The first monsoon rain in the city washed away the tall claims of the municipal corporation about its preparedness for the rainy season. Water accumulated on roads in several sectors, including 17, 21, 22, 8, 9, 32, 15, 41, 42 and 37. The civic body had claimed to have deployed around 100 workers for cleaning up the 30,000 road gullies to prevent waterlogging, but the work did not seem up to the mark.

Rain started at night and continued till morning, leading to accumulation of water in the morning hours. The worst-affected were commuters and schoolchildren. In Sector 37, a car was damaged after a tree fell on it. Due to the rainfall, the soil turned soft and the tree fell on the car.

At the office of the Registering and Licensing Authority, the applicants had a harrowing time as the sheds gave little protection from the rain. There was water and slush where the applicants get files for registration certificates processed. In Sector 21, Ajay Prakash Shukla, 32, a domestic help, was electrocuted while drilling a hole in a clogged drain in a house in the morning. He was using an electric drill while it was raining.

The owners of the house called the police and an unconscious Shukla was rushed to the GMSH-16, where he was declared dead on arrival.

A native of Uttar Pradesh, Shukla had been living in Chandigarh for a decade. He is survived by his wife and three children. Though police have initiated inquest proceedings, foul play has been ruled out. The police is waiting for Shukla’s family to arrive from UP for conducting the post mortem and handing over the body. As in Chandigarh, in Mohali, too, the waterlogging of roads exposed the lack of preparedness of the civic authorities. In Sohana village in Sector 77, water entered the civil dispensary and also clogged the roads of the village.

In Phase 1, Phase 11, Balongi, Jagatpura and parts of Phase 5, roads remained submerged in water for several hours. “It happens every year here. Even if it rains a little, the roads get waterlogged for several days. It’s a pathetic state of affairs in this village,” said Balongi resident Makhan Singh. Manjeet Sethi, a Phase 3B1 resident, said, “The MC and the district administration should find out a solution to this problem so that the residents can have a peaceful monsoon this time.”

City gets 58.8mm rainfall on first day

The much-awaited monsoon lashed the city on Wednesday, bringing 58.8mm rainfall and a welcome dip in temperature. There is prediction of low-intensity showers over the next few days. Heavy rain began last night and continued till Wednesday morning. Later, there were light showers.

The maximum temperature recorded on Wednesday was 32.6 degree Celsius, which is 3 degree below normal. The minimum temperature recorded was 22.7 degree Celsius, which is continued…